In recent years, mobile wireless communications have become increasingly popular. Initial implementations of mobile wireless communications, for example in the form of cellular telephone networks, supported circuit switched voice communication services. Wireless communication devices such as mobile or “cell” phones have expanded greatly in functionality over the last decade. For example, wireless network carriers developed short message service (SMS) technology to provide text and/or e-mail communications via the wireless communication networks. As the public wireless communication networks have evolved to provide greater bandwidth and packet based services, the industry has developed a variety of data services, such as web browsing, as well as a variety of services using Multimedia Message Service (MMS) technology.
Customers are typically required to go through various cumbersome activation processes in order to connect a new mobile device to a wireless network. One such process is store activation, where a customer enters a store to activate the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card with the device. The SIM typically includes a secure storage that is generally used for storing an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) and a network hash key used in identifying and authenticating the mobile station on a particular wireless carrier network. Customers also typically utilize a customer care call for activation. For this process, a customer calls a customer service or care facility for activation of the SIM card with the device. Internet activation is also typically used, where a customer activates the SIM card for the device by navigating a website provided by or for the network provider. Another type of common activation process is a pre-activated SIM card. For this, a customer purchases a pre-activated SIM card with a selected price plan. While providing for activation of the SIM cards used with the wireless devices, such techniques typically involve reliance on customer service representatives, and may not be convenient for the customers.
Hence, a need exists for an improved process for allowing a user of a mobile device to activate the mobile device for operation.